Metal-Organic Frameworks Based Autonomous Water Harvesting & Sustainable Energy Generation from Ambient Air

Abstract

Recently, hydro-electric nanotechnology is touted as promising next-generation renewable energy because it can employ environmentally friendly sources for producing electricity. However, conventional hydro-electric nanotechnology is hampered by limitations, such as artificial induction of water stream and a low production level of energy. In this work, we developed an autonomous water harvesting & sustainable electrical energy generation system that overcomes the limitations of conventional renewable energy. Autonomous water harvesting & sustainable electrical energy generation system was successfully achieved with two distinctive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), that are, an amine-functionalized Zr-based MOF (UiO-66-NH2) particles for atmospheric water harvesting, and a highly conductive Ni3(HITP)2 (HITP = 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaiminotriphenylene) MOF-grown cotton-fabric for producing electrical energy. The environmentally responsive UiO-66-NH2 harvests water from airborne air and the condensed water spontaneously produces electrical potential between wet- and dry-Ni3(HITP)2, resulting in electrical energy generation with a maximum power and energy densities of 2.6 μW cm-3 and 1.1 mJ cm-3, respectively. Our integrated water harvesting and energy generation systems can pave the way for realizing a hydro-electric nanogenerator as a next-generation energy harvesting system. Figure 1